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A Decade Of Diversion: Franklin County's Court For Sex Trafficking Survivors

Paige Pfleger

September 25, 2019 |

WOSU |

Multi-Media |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Columbus, Ohio

Treating women who are coerced into human trafficking as victims provides opportunities for recovery. Alongside the passage of legislation against human trafficking in Ohio, Franklin County courts have implemented a recovery program. Changing Actions to Change Habits (CATCH), provides victims of human trafficking with support in the form of housing, food, and treatment for addiction and trauma. In exchange for participation in the program, women can have their records expunged.

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A College Education in Prison Opens Unexpected Path to Freedom

Vanessa Rancaño

September 21, 2019 |

CapRadio |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Long Beach, California

California is leading the nation in prison education. “There are now in-person community college classes in all but one prison in the state, enrolling some 4,000 students." Nationally, 4 percent of higher ed institutions teach for-credit classes in prisons. “It's been the most amazing experience of my entire life, as either a free man or as an incarcerated human being." Evidence shows that providing people in prison with education reduces recidivism rates. “A major study by the RAND Corporation found taking classes in prison cuts the chances of getting locked up again by 43%.”

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'FACT' teams aim to keep people with mental illness out of jail

Alisa Roth

September 18, 2019 |

MPR News |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

A Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) team tackles one of the toughest challenges at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice: how to help people whose mental illness has landed them in criminal trouble, without resorting to jail or brief hospitalizations. A Rochester, New York, program that showed promise in improving those odds by connecting people with needed services is now being replicated in Hennepin County, Minnesota. So far, about half of the 60 people in the program returned to jail. So it's only working for some people.

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New York providers credit ‘aftercare' for helping youths transition home

Allison Dikanovic

September 16, 2019 |

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

New York has taken great strides in reforming their juvenile justice system, and key to that has been ensuring that those in the system receive ongoing support once they return to their communities. Organizations like Arches work with probation officers to provide young people with therapy and mentors – whose lives have been similar to their mentees – in order to provide the needed support and guidance. Such programs have shown lowered recidivism rates and have garnered the attention of officials in Milwaukee who are seeking to makeover their system.

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Teens Learn Life Skills Training Therapy Dogs

Michael Tashji

August 30, 2019 |

Juvenile Justice Information Exchange |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Working to train therapy dogs helps kids with issues learn how to cope. Rising Ground, an organization in New York City, provides animal therapy as part of a residential placement program for juveniles facing problems with the law. The youth receive training in life skills, counseling, and peer support through their court-ordered program. In addition, Rising Ground engages them in an eight-week program to train therapy dogs, which helps the youth learn how to deal with their emotions, as well.

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Former Juvenile Inmates Are Earning Double Minimum Wage to Grow Crops — and Business Skills

Monica Humphries

August 16, 2019 |

NationSwell |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

For young adults leaving prison in Atlanta, they have the opportunity to participate in Gangstas to Growers, a local nonprofit that provides job skills training and personal development. The program, created in 2016, gives participants the opportunity to learn skills like farming, gardening, and how to run a business, and supplementary knowledge like financial literacy and environmental sustainability. Even more, Gangstas to Growers pays participants working on black-owned farms $15 per hour, which is almost twice the minimum wage.

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First Group Of Students Graduates From Wesleyan's Prison Education Program

Shawn R. Beals

July 31, 2019 |

Hartford Courant |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Middletown, Connecticut

The first class of students enrolled in the Wesleyan University Center for Prison Education has just graduated. The program awards participants with an associate degree from Middlesex Community College in general studies and intends to serve as a tool against recidivism by offering an opportunity for success after incarceration. The Center for Prison Education has existed since 2009, serving 138 students thus far, and started offering a degree option in 2016.

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California's overhaul of prison education programs a blueprint for others

Wayne D'Orio

July 12, 2019 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

In the six years after California prisons became the first in the nation to offer college classes in nearly every prison, thousands of incarcerated people have enrolled in classes and have outperformed free-world students in grades and passing rates. While such programs have been shown to reduce crimes committed by those released from prison, the ultimate goal of California’s program is to see the benefits ripple through communities that the formerly incarcerated go home to.

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What if Fort Worth hired ex-convicts to fight violent crime? It's working elsewhere

Nichole Manna

June 24, 2019 |

Fort Worth Star-Telegram |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Richmond, California

Within a year of founding its Office of Neighborhood Safety to prevent gun violence, Richmond saw its most violent neighborhood drop from 27 murders to three. The program pairs former gang members and formerly incarcerated men with people deemed at risk of shooting others or getting shot. The mentors are paid a salary by the city, and the program "fellows" get paid a stipend if they stay out of trouble and respond well to the program's life-skills counseling. The program expanded citywide and to other cities, based on its record of keeping fellows alive and shootings in decline.

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Hope For Prisoners Teams Up With Las Vegas Cops to Help Ex-Offenders

Jake Bullinger

June 21, 2019 |

Bitterroot |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Las Vegas, Nevada

Hope for Prisoners helps more than 500 people per year adjust to living and working productively after serving sentences in jail or prison, thanks in large part to a team of mentors – many of whom are police officers. In an exercise in developing two-way empathy – formerly incarcerated see police willing to help them, and the police see people with criminal records working to improve themselves – the program tailors its services to people's needs and skills. Since 2010, the program has graduated more than 2,600 people, nearly two-thirds of whom found work and nearly all of whom avoided new arrests.

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